


Dating via Meal Coupon

by violasarecool



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, Humanstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 01:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2330516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt: “I have a meal coupon but it only works for couples do you want to join me?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dating via Meal Coupon

Meenah scrutinized the street, watching harried pedestrians pass by the stretch of wall she was leaning against, hands in her pockets. An older man glanced at her briefly as he passed, and she gagged. Too old. There were a group of high school students gathered outside a cafe window (too young), a woman in a thin pencil skirt by the bus stop (nice ass, but kept checking her damn watch), a guy wearing a dark turban and a sharp black suit (and like a really fucking nice suit too, but he was joined by a man in a long wool coat just moments later), a greying woman, a kid of maybe 12, couple after couple... Where did all the college kids go on a friday night?? She watched as a bus stopped, emptying its bowels of ten or so passengers. Old, _no_ , eh, older—ah.

She watched a girl stop at the edge of the street, frowning to either side over a pair of hilariously dated glasses. She leaned forward to peer to one side, and nearly lost her grip on a misshapen canvas bag.

Meenah grinned. Yes. That one.

She hurried to catch up as the girl set off down the street, marching at a surprisingly fast pace. It took nearly a block to reach her, and she was an arm's length away when the girl stopped abruptly and Meenah crashed into her.

"Shit," Meenah said, grabbing the girl's shoulder as she pivoted around to face her, "what the hell are you doing, stopping in the middle of the road like that??"

The girl frowned at her. "Looking where I was going."

 _Ooh, damn._ "Sorry, ya caught me off guard." Meenah waited, but she didn't say anything, so she shrugged and went for it. "Meenah, by the way."

This earned her an incredulous look. "Pardon?"

"I'm Meenah," she repeated, and, what the hell, she held out her hand.

The girl hesitantly reached out and shook her hand. "Aranea."

"Cool." Meenah fingered the piece of paper in her pocket. "You, uh, busy?"

Aranea glanced down at her bag, then back up at Meenah, trying to make up her mind. "I was just on my way to get something to eat."

Meenah grinned. "Perfect, scrap those plans and come with me," she said, grabbing Aranea by the arm, and steering her to the left.

"Oh—" Aranea tightened her grip on her bag as they marched toward the sidewalk. She shot Meenah an amused glance. "I _am_ judging correctly when I say your plans also involve food, yes? Because I really am rather hungry."

"Well _duh,_ why else would I have—" Meenah stopped. "Oh my _god,_ I forgot to even do the fucking spiel." She let go of Aranea's arm, and turned to face her. "I'mma try again. Hey, I'm Meenah, you doin anythin right now, cause I got a coupon for this real fancy restaurant—ok sorta fancy, actually maybe just middle of the line, but yanno, whatever—but it's only for couples, wanna join me?"

Aranea snorted, her hand half covering her mouth. "How many others have you tried picking up via this method?"

" _Tried?"_ Meenah exclaimed, "I've had a 100% success rate, don't diss the method."

Aranea raised her eyebrows. "That doesn't answer the question."

Meenah hooked her arm back through Aranea's. "So far, just you."

"I haven't said yes," Aranea said, and Meenah turned her way, smirking.

"Whaale, you came with me this far, didn't cha?"

Aranea narrowed her eyes. "Did you just make a fish pun."

"Uh." Meenah gave her a shifty look. "Depends, is that a deal breaker?"

Aranea crossed her arms, her bag swaying dangerously. "Depends, are you paying?"

"Yeah, 'course," Meenah said, "waddya take me for, some moochin nobody??"

They started walking again. "Well, you _are_ trying to pick random strangers up with coupons."

"Hot strangers," Meenah corrected her. "I got _some_ pride."

" _Right_ ," Aranea said, rolling her eyes, but her cheeks were still slightly flushed when they walked into the restaurant.

* * *

"So, you a student, or what?" Meenah asked through a mouthful of breaded salmon.

Aranea paused, a forkful of rice halfway to her mouth. "Hold on. How old are you?"

"Twenty-four," Meenah said defensively, "why?"

"Ah, good." Aranea took a mouthful of rice.

"No, hold up, why?" Meenah demanded.

Aranea chewed, and swallowed. "Well, you're... a bit short, you know—"

"I ain't _that_ short," Meenah protested.

"Well, you're certainly shorter than I am," Aranea said, smirking, and Meenah scowled.

"What's your point."

"Well, for a moment I thought I had misjudged and agreed to dinner with a first year! Or, god, a high school student."

Meenah shoved another mouthful of fish in her mouth. "I look nothin like a highschooler."

Aranea smiled. "No, but there were quite a few younger students around last week, some kind of event I think, so I wasn't sure if you were a student or not."

"I _am_ a student."

"Oh?"

Meenah met Aranea's surprised gaze evenly. "Yeah, took a year to work after high school, and now I'm takin an extra semester to retake a few courses."

Aranea nodded. "Ah, ok, that makes sense. So what are you majoring in?"

"Business," Meenah said, "you?" She picked up a piece of bread, "I mean, if you did college," she said, gesturing at her with the bread, "or if you're doin college right now?" Aranea opened her mouth to speak, but Meenah jabbed the bread at her, and she started laughing. "Wait, how old are _you?"_

"Twenty-five," Aranea said, smiling, "I've been out of college for a couple of years. Oh, and English, I majored in English, with a minor in library science."

Meenah choked on a mouthful of bread. "In _what._ "

"Library science!" Aranea's face lit up. "You haven't heard of it, I take it? It's essentially the study of library management and practices, the tools libraries use to organize information, how information is acquired, how technology comes into the equation, as well as the techniques involved in records management and documentation, ethics—"

"Oh my god," Meenah said, watching her, mouth open, "you are such a fucking nerd."

Aranea chuckled. "Well, what did you think I was doing with all these books?"

"Books?" Meenah followed Aranea's gaze to under the table, and her eyes widened. "Holy mother of shit, those are all _books?"_

"What did you think they were?"

Meenah shrugged. "I dunno, tissue boxes, ramen, tea??"

Aranea laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, tea weighs perhaps a _quarter_ of the amount that books weigh. Lifting books all day is quite a good workout, in fact."

"Really," Meenah said, deadpan.

"Mm." Aranea glanced her up and down, a sly grin on her face. "You probably weigh less than most stacks of books I have to carry."

"Hey!" Meenah smacked her fork against the table. "Don't you fuckin talk about liftin me, girl, I could bench-press you a hundred times without breakin a sweat."

Aranea leaned on the table, steepling her fingers. "Is that so."

Meenah made a face at her. "Ok, that is some serious major movie villain level posturin, but yeah, I think—" she rolled up her right sleeve, flexing her biceps, "—I could take ya."

Aranea rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to flex my biceps at you, don't be ridiculous."

Meenah raised her eyebrows. "You chicken?"

"Yes, I'm simply terrified my physique will not be up to your muscular standards," Aranea deadpanned, "I couldn't handle the rejection." Meenah stared at her, and Aranea sighed. "Oh, fine." She carefully rolled up her sleeve. "This is ridiculous," she said, but rolled it up all the way, then flexed her arm. "Happy?"

Meenah tipped her head to one side. "Do it again."

Aranea frowned at her, but squeezed her biceps tight once more before dropping her arm and hastily rolling down her sleeve. "There, now you've seen my arms, obviously your _superior_ musculature wins."

"Well yeah," Meenah said, eyebrows raised, "but damn, girl, you got yourself some serious muscle definition."

"Hahah."

"No, actually." Meenah stared at her. "Not gonna lie, it's kinda hot."

Aranea opened her mouth, then closed it.

At that moment, their waitress came by, an empty tray in her hand. "Are you ready for the bill?"

Meenah blinked. "Uh, yeah," she looked at Aranea, "yeah?"

"Yes," Aranea said, glancing down at the table as the waitress stacked their empty plates.

"Visa," Meenah said, and the waitress nodded, grabbing the bread basket as she went.

When Meenah was done paying (and had handed over the coupon), the waitress walked away, leaving them staring at the bare white tablecloth.

Meenah coughed. "So, uh."

Aranea looked up. "Hm?"

"Guess we should give up this table for someone else, yeah?"

Aranea nodded. "Right," she said, reaching down for her bag. "It was..." She stood up. "It was nice meeting you," she said, holding out her hand.

Meenah shook it awkwardly. "Yeah."

They made their way to the door, squeezing through the crowded interior without saying anything. Meenah pushed through the main doors into the chilly air, holding the door for Aranea.

"You wanna, like, exchange numbers?" Meenah asked.

Aranea pursed her lips, staring off to the right. Then, she shook her head slightly.

"Ok," Meenah said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut, "it's cool, see ya around I guess—"

"I live a bus ride from here," Aranea said.

Meenah frowned. "Oook..."

Aranea rolled her eyes. "Are you busy right now."

"No?"

"Come over to my place," she said, and her ears were turning redder than they should be even considering the cold.

Meenah raised her eyebrows, mouth tugging up into a grin. "Alright."

"Alright," Aranea said, swallowing a grin, then started walking toward the busstop, leaving Meenah hurrying to catch up.

Meenah sped up to match Aranea's pace. "Hey," she said, wiggling her eyebrows at her.

"Shut up," Aranea said, tugging her scarf over her mouth as they approached the bus stop, falling into line behind a man pushing a double stroller up the ramp of an already waiting bus.

"Make me," Meenah mouthed, 

Aranea tugged her scarf down and leaned closed to Meenah's ear. "Maybe later," she whispered, breath hot against Meenah's neck—then spoiled the effect by flicking one of Meenah's braids.

"Nerrrrrd."

"No, you."

"Library scientist."

"Shorty."

"...Oh, it's _on._ "

**Author's Note:**

> please _don't give me crit_ , constructive or not, even if you feel the need to point out a typo, i would appreciate it if you didn't. i do this for fun, and once i've posted something, i don't really want to think about it critically anymore. thanks.


End file.
